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C. G. TIEFEL.

CHECKWRITER.

APPLiCATION HLED ocr. 1a. \915.

1,307,566. Patented June 24, 19m.

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ms mu hum Charles G. Tiefel W/ TNESSES [N VEN 701?,

BY MWQ 6 H15 ,4 TTORNE y C. G. TIEFEL.

CHECKWHITER.

APPLICATION FILED ocr. 1?, 19m.

1,307,566. Patented June 24, I919.

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WZTNESSES:

6/ H15 ATTORNEY 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G. TIEFEL, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 TODD PROTECTOGRAPH COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Application filed October 18, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that 1, CHARLES G. Trnrnn, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Checkwriters; and I do hereby declare the follow ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable any person skilled in the art to which the inven tion appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to printing apparatus, and more particularly to the small, hand operated printing machines known as hand stamps, which are adapted for printing the value, or other legend, on a check or similar instrument, by an in delible form of impression, which disrupts the fiber of the paper so that it absorbs the printing ink and makes fraudulent alteration of the instrument practically impossible.

Machines of this class are frequently subjected to usage of an intermittent nature, by unskilled operators, so that they receive no regular attention, and the supply of ink often becomes exhausted before it occurs to the operator to supply more. Checks printed by the machine in this condition are, of course, imperfectly protected. In addition, the manual application of ink to the inking rolls is not only a troublesome task for the operator but it is difficult to thus apply the ink evenly and Without eXcess. One object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a check printing machine of an automatic and self-contained character, having a fountain ink supplying means aetuated by the operation of the machine, so as to supply ink in quantities exactly proportional to the use of the machine, and sufficient for extended periods of use.

Another object is to provide a machine of this class having a. fountain inking mechanism which positively and precisely controls the quantity of ink supplied, so that an effective impression is insured, and, on the other hand, there is prevented any excess of ink which would mar the clearness of the impression, or the cleanliness of the work, so important in this type of machine.

The portable character and small size of machines of this type require a specially de signed and adapted form of fountain inking mechanism. Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a check Specification of Letters Patent.

GHECKWRI'I'ER.

Patented June 24, 1919.

Serial No. 56,529.

printing machine having a fountain inking mechanism which supplies ink in very minute quantities, and is non-leakable in any position in which the machine may be placed.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of one embodimcnt of the invention in connection with the illustration thereof in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan View of the ma chine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 a top plan view, with the cover of the casing removed, to show the interior parts.

Fig. 4: is a central sectional elevation of the printing and inking mechanism.

The printing machine of the present invention is similar to that disclosed in the copending application of Libanus M. Todd and Charles G. Tiefel, Serial No. 24,810, filed April 29, 1915, for an improvement in check writers, and comprises a casing having a. base portion 10, and an upper portion, or housing, 11, these portions being securely fastened together by means of screws 13, so as to leave therebetween a work receiving slot 14 above a printing bed or work support 15 on the lower portion of the casing. The printing bed has an opening 16 (Fig. 4) through which is adapted to be raised a platen 17 carried in a socket in the forward end of an arm 18 of a bell crank lever 19, which extends upwardly through an opening 20 in the printing bed, and is journaled on a shaft 21 supported at its ends in the upper portion of the casing. The lever 19 has an upwardly projecting arm 22 extend ing into contact with a cam. 23 fixed on a shaft 24.- which is journaled at its ends in the casing, one of the ends of the shaft extending without the casing where it is provided with an operating crank 25. It will be apparent that as the shaft 24 is given a complete rotation, by means of the crank 25, the cam 23 on the shaft will oscillate the bell crank lever 19 to raise the platen through the printing bed, and thus raise the work for contact With the type forms on the carrier in the upper portion of the casing, which will now be described.

Journaled in the upper portion of the casing is a shaft 26 upon which is fixed a type carrier, or cylinder, 27, provided on its periphery with a plurality of parallel spaced type forms 28 extending in the direction of the axis of the cylinder. Fixed on the shaft 26 is a gear wheel 29, (Fig. 3) meshing with a gear wheel 30 fixed on the end of a stub shaft 31 which is journaled in the casing and extends therewithout where it is provided with a finger piece, or knob, 32, by means of which parts the type carrier may be conveniently rotated. Fixed on the shaft 26 is also a pulley 33 about which is wrapped a belt 34, (Fig. 4) which is carried upwardly in crossed relation over a pair of idler pulleys 35 attached to the front and back of the casing adjacent its top. Fixed to this belt, on the straight part thereof extending between the idler pulleys, is a pointer 36 which projects through the top of the easing into proximity to a dial 37 supported by the top of the casing and bearing a plurality of characters corresponding to the type forms on the carrier. By turning the knob 32 the type carrier may be rotated to bring any selected type form to a common printing position above the platen, themovement of the carrier being indicated by the movement. of the pointer 36 over the dial 37. In order to disrupt the paper so that it will absorb the ink, the printing surfaces of the type and platen are provided with coiiperating corrugations as disclosed in Letters Patent of the U. S. No. 793249 granted J une 27, 1905, to Libanus M. Todd for printing apparatus.

The means for inking the type forms comprises, preferably, an inking element, or roller, 38, (Fig. 4) journaled on a stud 39 at the lower end of an arm 40 of a lever pivoted on a spindle 41 supported in the casing. The upper end 42 of this lever has connected thereto a spring 43 which is attached at its other end to the arm 22 of the platen lever. By this construction the platen is normally held in lowered position, and the inking roller 38 is pressed against the type carrier, so that, as the latter is revolved, the inking roller is brought into rolling contact with the type forms.

The fountain inking mechanism, in the present embodiment which is illustrative merely, comprises a frame 44 attached to the rear wall of the housing of the printing machine by means of screws 45. This frame is provided with a plate, or cover, 46, and has formed therein a cylindrical ink container 47. Movable longitudinally of the container is a plunger 4-8 having a cupshaped washer, or gasket, 49, the concave side of which is the pressure side, so that the pressure of the liquid tends to force the edges of the gasket into liquid-tight engagement with the walls of the container. Extending centrally and axially of the container is a threaded spindle 50, journaled at its ends in the ends of the container and threaded through the plunger 18, so that rotation of this spindle 50 serves to move the plunger, slowly, through the container. The upper end of spindle 50 extends above the cover 46 and is provided with a worm gear wheel 51 meshing with a worm fixed on a spindle 53 which is journaled in the upturned ends of a bracket 54. The latter is pivotally supported at on the ')late 46, (Fig. 3) and is provided with a slotted extension 56. Engaging in this slot is a set screw 57 which holds the bracket 54: against movement about its pivot, but after turning the set screw 57 to release the extension 56, bracket 54: may be turned about its pivot 55 to move the worm 52 out of en gagen'ient with the worm gear 51 so that the spindle 50 may be turned rapidly, by hand, to retract the plunger 48 to the upper portion of the ink container, so that the latter may be filled with ink.

The spindle 53 is extended beyond one of its bearings and has journaled thereon, adjacent the outside of the bearing, a ratchet wheel 59. On the other side of the ratchet wheel is a collar 60 fixed to the spindle 53 by means of a pin and slot connection 61, so that the collar 60 rotates with the spindle but has a slight movement longitudinally thereof toward and from the ratchet wheel 59, and the collar is urged into engagement with the hub of the ratchet wheel by means of the sprin 62 fixed to the end of the spindle 53. Collar 60 and the hub of the ratchet wheel 59 are provided with a clutch connection 63 adapted to slip and allow continued rotation of the ratchet wheel should the movement of the spindle 53 be in any way prevented. Engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel 59 is a pawl 64 supported near 105 its center on a pin 65 (Fig. 4) fixed in the casing. The pawl has a slotted engagement with this pin and is normally held at the limit of its movement toward the left, as seen in Fig. t, and with its end in engage- 110 ment with the ratchet wheel, by means of a spring 66 attached to the pawl and to the casing. The opposite end 67 of the pawl extendsthrough a slot in the wall of the casing in position to be engaged and moved 115 by an extension 68 on the upper end of the platen lever arm 22. Thus, when the platen lever is oscillated to raise the platen, the pawl 64 is moved outwardly on its pivot, turning the ratchet wheel 59, and through 120 the connecting elements, thus imparting a downward movement to the plunger 48 in the ink container. Should the movement of the plunger be prevented in any way, as, for instance, when it reaches the downward 125 limit of its movement in the container, the operation of the printing machine may be continued without damage to an of the parts by reason of the slipping of t e clutch members 63, previously described. It is to 130 be noted that the ratio of the initial to the final movement of the train of gearing, which is described for imparting movement from the platen lever to the plunger in the ink container, is extremely high, the plunger having imparted thereto, at each actuation of the platen, an extremely minute forward movement in the ink container.

Journaled at its ends in the top and bottom of the frame 44 is a spindle 69 (Fig. 4) the lower end of the spindle being snugly fitted in a tapered bearing 70 in the frame. The ink container 47 is provided at the bottom of its inner side with an opening 72 conneetin with the tapered bearing 70 of the spind e 69. The spindle is itself pro vided with an aperture 73 connecting with the opening 72 in the container wall, the aperture of the spindle being considerably smaller than that of the container, to allow a slight turnin movement of the spindle without moving these openings out of register. The opening in the spindle connects with a central bore 74 thereof, in the end of which is fitted a delivery tube 75, which is turned horizontally and extends through openings in the rear wall of the casing, and also in the platen lever, and projects forwardly above the inking roller 38, where it is provided with a depending end 7 6 having a flattened apertured contact surface hearing upon the roller. The aperture in this contact surface is quite small and the relation of the parts is such that any ink forced therefrom will be immediately wiped from the contact surface and taken up by the ab sorbent material of the inking roller 38.

The upper end of spindle 69 extends above the cover plate 46 and has fixed thereto an arm 77, (Fig. 3) to the other end of which is pivotally attached a link 78 rotatably fixed at its other end to the crank 79 (Figs. 2 and 3) fixed to the end of the spindle 53. From the description of this construction it will be apparent that at each revolution of the spindle 53 the spindle 69 will be oscillated and the end 76 of the delivery tube will be swung back and forth, froin end to end of the inking roller 38. This construction serves to distribute the ink longitudinally of the inking roller, and as the latter is constantly rotated by the setting movement of the type carrier it will be apparent that the ink is evenly applied over the surface of the inkin roller.

The ink container is provided at its lower outer side with a filling opening 80, closed by screw cap '81. In order to fill the container the plunger is first retracted to the top thereof, in a manner already described, the machine is turned on its forward side, the screw cap 81 is removed and the ink is poured into the container until the latter is entirely filled. The screw cap is then rep1aced, the worm 52 is placed in mesh with its worm wheel, and the machine is then ready for operation.

The operation of the machine Will be understood from a brief explanation in connection with the above description. The check, or other instrument, having been placed in the Work receiving slot 14, the knob 32 is turned to select the type characters desired to be printed, the crank 25 being given a complete rotation after each such selection, to operate the platen and impress the corresponding character upon the Work. As is common in machines of this type, a mechanism is provided for feeding the work between the successive impressions, but this feeding mechanism is omitted from the drawings in the present instance for the purpose of simplifying the disclosure. At each actuation of the platen lever corresponding to a word printed, the plunger is automatically advanced a minute distance in the ink container, thereby forcing a small increment, or trace of ink, from the delivery tube to the inking roller 38. It may be determined by previous experiment, what quantity of ink is necessary, on the average, for printing the type forms, and with this data and a corresponding design of the actuating gearing, it will be apparent that the ink may be supplied to the type forms in exact proportion to the use of the machine, so that the supply of ink upon the inking roller is kept very uniform. The container holds ink suflicient for the normal use of the machine for several years, so that the troublesome operation of resupplying the machine with ink is thus obviated and the ink is automatically and uniformly supplied to the machine.

The tight-fitting plunger prevents any escape of ink past it in the container, and the ink is thus forced positively from the container by the movement of the plunger, which is precisely controlled by the design of the actuating gearing so that at each operation of the machine, there is supplied the predetermined small increment of ink which is necessary for the proper inking of the type. The delivery orifice being very small and the ink containing parts air-tight, only that quantity of ink can escape which is positively fed by force from the container, so that the supply of ink is precisely controlled. Furthermore, the construction of the device is such that it may be tilted at any angle, or inverted, without any tendency to cause a leaka e of the ink. There is thus provided an inking mechanism which is nonleakable and requlres no attention from the operator, but which keeps the machine constantly supplied with the exact amount of ink required, so that every impression made therefrom receives just the proper quantity of ink.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Lettcl's Patent is:***

1. In a printing apparatus, a type carrier and a platen having a relative printing movement, a cam for imparting said movement, an element for applying ink to the type, a fountain ink container having means for supplying ink to said inking element, a plunger in the container, and means actuated by the aforesaid cam for effecting a relative movement of the container and plunger whereby to force ink to the inking element.

2. In a printing apparatus, a type carrier and a platen having a relative printing movement, an operating shaft, means carried by the shaft for imparting the relative movement to the type carrier and platen, a fountain ink container, a plunger in said container and devices actuated by the aforesaid means for effecting relative movement of the container and plunger to force ink from the container, and means for applying to the type the ink forced from the con tainer.

3 In a machine of the class described, a type carrier, a platen, a fountain ink container, a plunger in said container, mechanism actuated by the platen for advancing said plunger to force ink from the fountain container, and an ink roll constructed to receive the ink forced from the container and apply the ink to the type.

4. In a machine of the class described, a type carrier, a platen, a fountain ink container, a plunger in said container, connections whereby the printing movement of the platen. will advance the plunger to force ink from the fountain container, an inking roll for applying ink to the type, a movable conduit for conducting ink from the con tainer to the inking roll, and means for moving the conduit to distribute the ink on the surface of the inking roll.

5. In. a machine of the class described, a type carrier a platen, mechanism for moving the platen toward and away from the type to take impressions, a fountain ink container, a. plunger in said container, con nections whereby the printing movement of the platen advances said plunger to force ink from the container, a swinging conduit through which the ink forced from the container passes toward the type, means for receiving and applying said ink to the faces of the type, and devices for swinging the conduit relative to said means whereby to distribute the ink on the means.

(3. A machine of the class described having as its distinguishing feature a reservoir containing a supply of ink, a movable conduit automatically swung to different positions with reference to the type to cause the even application of ink to the type, and means whereby the printing operations of the machine efi ect this distributing movement of said conduit.

7. The machine described in claim 6 providcd with means for positively forcing ink from the reservoir through the said conduit.

CHARLES G. TIEFEL. Witnesses MAoNUs H. JoHANsoN, JOHN J. CIIAPIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 13.0. 

